Pip Hinman, Sydney – The news that two Acehnese activists sought refuge in the Finnish embassy in Jakarta on April 10 didn't surprise Erwanto, an Acehnese activist currently visiting Australia. "Aceh is like hell on Earth", he said. "Already this year more than 700 people have been killed, almost all of them civilians. Aceh will be another East Timor, unless we and our friends internationally prevent it from happening".

Erwanto, international officer of the Acehnese Peoples Democratic Resistance Front (FPDRA), is visiting Australia and New Zealand to generate greater solidarity for the campaign demanding a referendum be held in Aceh on independence. During his two-month visit, he will address public meetings in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne and meet a number of solidarity, trade union, NGO and parliamentary representatives.

Erwanto is one of a new generation of Acehnese leaders whose political and community activity did not start as part of a movement for independence, but as part of an Indonesian-wide movement to get rid of the dictator Suharto.

In 1998, Erwanto helped form SMUR Student Solidarity with the People one of the key organisations then mobilising students against Suharto. SMUR is now one of the few longer-term university student organisations in Aceh.

After Suharto was deposed, the Acehnese people organised huge demonstrations demanding a referendum on independence. In the countryside, the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), a pro-independence organisation with an armed guerrilla wing, spread rapidly.

At the same time, the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) retreated from their former level of intense military activity against GAM, which increased GAM's support.

In the cities, Erwanto and others of his generation saw the need for another wing of the independence movement which would use peaceful methods and take a strong stand in defence of a democratic future for a free Aceh and for friendly relations with the Indonesian democracy movement.

Erwanto told Green Left Weekly that in 1999, he helped Acehnese peasant farmers in the south. "The farmers were campaigning against their land being privatised and together with the students they set up WAKAMPAS (Youth and Student Movement for Democracy) which mobilised some 5000-7000 people in Tapaktuan, in south Aceh, that year." These young activists saw a need for the democratic movement to not just struggle for freedom but to maintain the struggle for social reforms. Many other organisations started to develop, organising farmers, workers and others. In 2001, many united to form the FPDRA. At its first congress, Erwanto was elected as its international officer. Erwanto criticised the Australian government's decision to strengthen military ties with Indonesia. "It is common knowledge that the Indonesian military is being helped by ExxonMobil in Aceh", he said. "But it's the political and financial support from the West which makes it easier for the Indonesian government to wage war on the people of Aceh. This is an act of complicity with murder", he said, adding that there are now 60,000 troops in Aceh.

The FPDRA believes that there will never be peace unless the Indonesian government agrees to a referendum allowing the people to decide on autonomy or independence. Erwanto is in no doubt what the verdict would be, given that two million people (half the population of Aceh) mobilised in support of independence in Banda Aceh in 1999, and since then the movement has only become stronger.

Erwanto said that the central government's offers to try and buy off different sectors in Aceh have failed. "For instance, religious leaders are opposed to the implementation of Islamic law in Aceh, and the autonomy law deeming that 70% of resources stay in Aceh has only served Jakarta's bureaucrats." The FPDRA believes that the process towards a referendum has to begin with a cease-fire between GAM and the TNI, followed by mediated political dialogue between GAM or its political wing the Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation Front and Indonesia.

"We have learnt from East Timor", said Erwanto. "We cannot have a democratic referendum while the TNI is in Aceh." He hopes that others too have learned. "If not", he warns, "Aceh's four million people will become victims of the TNI and police operations".